Commercial article printing typically occurs during the production of the article. For example, ball skins are printed with patterns or logos prior to the ball being completed and inflated. Consequently, a non-production establishment, such as a distribution site, which customizes products, for example, in region in which potential product customers support multiple professional or collegiate teams, needs to keep an inventory of products bearing the logos of the various teams. Ordering the correct number of products for each different logo to maintain the inventory can be problematic.
One way to address these issues in non-production outlets would be to keep unprinted versions of the products, and print the patterns or logos on them at the distribution site. Adapting known printing techniques, such as two-dimensional (2D) media printing technology, to apply image content onto three-dimensional objects would be difficult. Since the surfaces to be printed have to be presented to the printheads as relatively flat, two-dimensional surfaces, the objects have to be maneuvered carefully to present portions of the articles as parallel planes to the printheads. Therefore, printing systems capable of being operated in non-production environments that can print 3D objects are unknown, but desirable.